Booking United through ANA with Amex awards—upgrades?

[Anonymous]

I am looking to book a United flight to Rome on ANA Mileage Club using Amex membership rewards. I see award availability for the flight I want. But it is economy. Any tricks of upgrading later with miles or cash?

[Anonymous]

I flew United to Rome this summer. It’s not a particularly long flight, so if you can get premium economy, it’s fine. It’s not a huge cabin, though, and everyone is going to be gunning for any premium economy seats that open up. Many airlines will not honor codeshare perks. Last summer I had a United reservation but it was a codeshare for Lufthansa, and Lufthansa wouldn’t let me do anything. So United is likely to refer you back to ANA for anything, and ANA has zero control over United upgrades.

[Anonymous]

As soon as you book, you'll get a United confirmation code. Go to United's site and look it up, and you'll have the option to upgrade with $$ or United miles (there may be a co-pay for the latter, depending on your status with United.. it can be up to $500).

Whether the upgarde will clear is a big question. I've had the best luck flying way out of season, like to Germany in February. Then I have at least a 50% clearance rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As soon as you book, you'll get a United confirmation code. Go to United's site and look it up, and you'll have the option to upgrade with $$ or United miles (there may be a co-pay for the latter, depending on your status with United.. it can be up to $500).

Whether the upgarde will clear is a big question. I've had the best luck flying way out of season, like to Germany in February. Then I have at least a 50% clearance rate.

Much better odds of saver business awards opening up than upgrade clearing (but still not very good). In that case, would have to cancel econ award, transfer for points, and rebook as business. Can be a hassle when doing via partner awards. Might consider booking through Aeroplan instead of ANA if this is something you want to do- cancelling/rebooking is easier with Air Canada than ANA (there are some fees though).

Cash upgrade is always a possibility through United, either before travel or at check-in. Price changes, obviously, but may be something like $1k/person one way.

[Anonymous]

Like others said, it's a crapshoot as to whether you can upgrade later on, but it will almost definitely be a cash option rather than points.

Just got back from Italy on Lufthansa that a family member booked for me. I was able to upgrade from economy to business at check-in for $620. There was no option for premium economy. On the way back, it would have been over $1k for business but we got premium economy for $270.